I found a link to a site that sells pdf directions for making a dress form, customized to fit, and I was wondering if anyone here has made such a thing, or similar to aid in sewing clothes that fit? pics are here.

I waste so much money buying clothes that simply don't fit and am constantly browsing shirt racks in the hopes of finding shirts and blouses that fit, but never do. Ever.

I just bought myself a new shirt from the men's dept. and have spent many hours figuring out how to cut it and reshape it to fit my curves, and I finally have a pinned shirt that hangs pretty nicely. But, the process is so darn tedious and takes forever, and I'm thinking a dress form made in my exact dimensions would be so much easier to work with. I like a lot of the fabrics used in making men's cotton shirts, and I like the length of men's shirts too.

Here's another link with images. Click the photo to get additional photos. This looks like a cheap, easy way to make a dress form that fits.

more pics and directions

Since I have not average proportions, and sew a lot, I've been planning to make myself one of these for ages. I just never seem to get around to it. Mom and I were even talking about it in the fabric store today and by the time we got to the home center, we forgot to buy duct tape.

I do plan to get one done yet this winter.

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I found a link to a site that sells pdf directions for making a dress form, customized to fit, and I was wondering if anyone here has made such a thing, or similar to aid in sewing clothes that fit? pics are here.

Yep, I made one with duct tape. You need someone you trust to touch your body in very personal places, and with the secret of your ACTUAL body shape, to tape up your form. You need about 7 or 10 rolls of duct tape, a few kilos of polyfibre stuffing, chicken-cutting scissors (the kind that have an angle in the handle, not just a straight blade), a sacrificial turtleneck onto which the tape is applied, and a PVC crucifix in a Christmas tree stand. (That would be a 4" diameter pipe with a 1" or 2" diameter pipe running through it crosswise at shoulder height. Don't use anything less than 4" diameter PVC pipe because it needs to be VERY sturdy.)

Do not drink tea before allowing yourself to be taped up, as the process takes hours.

After a few months, I found the duct tape began to fall apart from the shoulders because it was just so darned heavy. (That, and the woman who taped me up was too shy to give my breasts their true form, so my dress form was flatter than my actual chest.) Other people in the LiveJournal "Sew Hip" and "Craftgrrl" forums have used kraft paper and paste for their body doubles, with excellent, albeit hard-shelled, results.

You can also get inflatable dress forms rather cheaply, and sew padding to customize it to your own shape. It's late, or I'd fish out the links from my copious bookmark folder for you. I'll be back tomorrow night.

The down sides to all three of these types of dress forms is that you cannot, MUST NOT in the case of the inflatable, pin anything TO the dress form.

Elfie, given your experience with some of these homemade forms, which type would you recommend? I want something that will last. Have you ever tried making one with latex, for a totally "perfect" rendition of the torso?

I'd love any links discussing the subject you might have. Could you also post links to those sewing and crafting sites you so frequently mention in your various posts? I'm feeling a need to connect with my creative side again.

Thanks.

I've never actually coated myself with latex... I'm thinking the paper tape is the most sturdy form you can make, based on my experience with the duct tape, and hearing amusing anecdotes involving the inflatable dress forms.

Late last night, sorry I didn't dig up the links.

http://community.livejournal.com/sew_hip/

This is the LiveJournal community I frequent, and whose "memories" are best organized by a good moderator. It's where I easily retrieved the two links below:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=74964.0

Though I'm not a member of Craftster, I highly recommend EVERYTHING there.

http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00002_p2.asp

Here's the duct tape tutorial, if that's the way you want to go.

Both paper tape and duct tape are based on the same principle, and I will add my 2¢ here: snip into the edges of the tape as you curve it under and between the breasts, for more accurate shaping. Wear the bra under your sacrificial shirt that you would normally wear (but NOT a sports bra!), and remind your taping partner to be very careful about cutting you out of your form - you don't want your favourite bra cut off your back, too!

Thanks for the info and links! I have plans to get taped this weekend. My husband likes the idea of helping out, and was wowed by the looks of the paper taped up torso in one of the links I showed him. I hope he can do a good job and not get totally distracted by the task. Being contained within stiff tape does not sound pleasant, but the final result will hopefully solve my sewing problems.

It's probably superfluous to mention this, since your husband is the one doing the taping, but tell him to start at the top, and work his way down. That way, if you start to get faint halfway through the taping, you still have enough range of motion in your hips to sit down.

And prepare for a real shock: you're going to see what you REALLY look like, from every angle. The mirror really does us many kindnesses. (Well, it does ME kindnesses every day, anyway.)

3 1/2 hours of standing. OMG. My back aches now, but a glass of wine seems to be helping with relaxing, as is sitting down at my desk. We used paper tape, the kind you have to wet. I'm wondering if there is a paper tape you don't need to wet that works better. The thing has been cut off, has been retaped to the proper measurements, (it turned out the thing was 2 inches too wide, everywhere!), and is now drying on a hanger. We will see if the final result is close enough for sewing. Husband did pretty good, and after the first half hour got the hang of taping. We saved the curviest parts for last, and that part was not easy. On the finished form, that area is going to need more shaping once dry.

The wetable paper tape seems to be somewhat hard to get to conform to curves properly. Maybe, my true form is what is on the inside. If I could find a substance to fill up the inside of the form with, and let that harden, maybe I'd have a better form to work with. Ground up newspaper mixed with glue to make a paper mache product, and fill the thing up with that?

The whole experience is one of those things that you have to go through to get the true feel for it. Very interesting, having the torso taped up. We have a big wall mirror in the room we did it in, so I got to see things in progress. And amazingly, I have a nicer shape than I thought.

Interesting experience. I stood over a heater with a sheet draped over me to trap in heat for half an hour to speed up the drying process.

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(it turned out the thing was 2 inches too wide, everywhere!)

Did it now? I thought mine had, too, but it matched my measurements.

You said the paper tape was harder to get to conform to your curves: did your DH clip and notch the tape, just like a curved seam allowance, to help pivot it?

Don't fill this form with anything you can't support on household fixtures! Paper mache is VERY heavy. I cheaped out on my dress form at first, and stuffed it with scrap and ugly fabric (metres and metres of it given by my elder in-laws because they found out I can sew), and it ended up stretching at the shoulders. I repaired it somewhat, and switched to the polyester fibrefill, and it lasted a few more months until the duct tape adhesive broke down in my humid basement.

That said: how do you feel about expanding foam crack sealer?

After the thing was cut off, I put it on a clothes hanger and measured it before taping the cut edge closed again. I had to overlap the back by 2 inches to get it to my measurements, so it was the thing that was off.

As for notches, yes, we did that. Husband used a lot of tape and I'm thinking all his layers were a bit thick in some areas. Plus, the plastic bag we used slipped during the long process and caused tape to bunch up and make a few thickened areas.

As for using the inside, I'm thinking today of covering the entire inside with thinned wood glue to seal it well. That should both seal it and help it hold together. Kind of the way decoupage holds paper together. I may use the shape as a form to make a mold from, then remove the paper form afterward and have my "true" shape without the paper exterior. I woke up this morning thinking about this, wondering just how expensive various materials are, and if they would work. Ideas like paper mache, wood shavings mixed with glue, spray in foam, latex (I think that stuff is quite expensive), and so on. I'm not sure any of the above would make a nice, smooth, final surface though.

Then again, I may just stuff the paper form with batting (I have lots of that on hand), then rewet the paper tape a bit with a spray bottle and see if I get the thing a bit smoother and glue down areas where the paper isn't adhering to itself. One of the difficulties in using the wetable paper tape is it doesn't always stick to itself, but lifts up a bit. It's this latter tendency that made it so the thing was larger than myself.

I'm not sure what else you could do, except maybe take a rasp to the lumpy areas that need a little contouring. (If only it were that easy! )

Good to know about the layering thing. I was considering making a new dressform this summer out of the paper tape, myself. Maybe I'll use wallpaper paste in addition to its own adhesive.

Girls, I have been sitting here picturing each of you going through this. I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants...

I make and sell stuff for JUST that problem...

LOL!